NYPD arrest criminal justice activist, ex-con in connection to torso found in the Bronx

BRONX, N.Y. - Criminal Justice activist and ex-con, Sheldon Johnson, 48, has been arrested after a human torso and foot were discovered inside a Bronx building Tuesday night, according to the NYPD. 

About Sheldon Johnson

Johnson had previously served time in prison. Last year, Johnson started working with the Queens public defender's office. 

Johnson was recently on Joe Rogan’s podcast talking about how he had turned his life around after a life of crime. He worked with troubled youth with the Queens Public Defenders Office. The shirt he wore said, "Queens Defenders".   

"I got into school, I got my GED. From there, I got involved in correspondence courses. I started interacting with guys who were teaching A R T aggression replacement training, and I started to begin to understand how these concepts worked. What's positive visualization is deep breathing, how to remove yourself, conflict resolution," Johnson said.

What happened?

Police said they responded to a wellness check at a building on Summit Avenue near West 162nd Street in Highbridge on Tuesday around 8:30 p.m.

Officers found the torso at the location and 44-year-old Collin Small inside the apartment. Johnson shot Small in the head and then dismembered his body.

A law enforcement source tells Fox 5 NY’s Linda Schmidt that investigators found a man’s torso and two feet in a plastic storage bin in the victim’s apartment. 

They also found the victim’s head, legs and one arm in a freezer of the suspect’s Harlem apartment.

The source also says the two men knew each other from prison.

The superintendent of the victim’s apartment building says a neighbor heard gunshots and surveillance video tells the story.

"The tenant of the apartment came in, and he never came out.  So I called police because something was suspicious," the superintendent said.

(Courtesy of building superintendent )

The pictures the superintendent provided FOX 5 with allegedly show Johnson carrying bags in and out of the apartment building the day of the murder, and changing his clothes several times, as well as wearing disguises.  

The medical examiner is working to figure out the cause of the death.

Johnson is charged with murder and concealment of a human corpse.  

Johnson is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday. 

FOX 5 NY contacted the Queens Public Defender’s office about Johnson working for them, but they had no comment.